Chapter 166: Expert

The Tuoma Pagoda, located in the very heart of Zhezhou Prefecture, stood eighteen stories tall. Soaring high into the clouds, it had always been one of the most famous scenic spots in Zhezhou.

Right beside the Tuoma Pagoda once stood the Tuoma Temple. Built during the same period, both structures were originally commissioned and constructed by Buddhist disciples who had traveled east from the Kingdom of Duyin. Later, however, when the imperial court launched a suppression of Buddhism, the temple was torn down, leaving only the solitary pagoda standing straight up, pointing directly at the vault of heaven. No monks had lived inside the pagoda for a long time; it had been taken over by the local government, which sent officials to clean and maintain it regularly, turning it into a tourist attraction.

...

In the early morning, a faint mist hung in the air—the exact moment just before the break of dawn. Everything was shrouded in a dim gloom, and not even the first crow of a rooster had sounded within the city yet.

Early though it was, vendors hurrying to catch the morning market had already begun carrying their poles across their shoulders, rushing back and forth through the dark. Among these bustling peddlers, a single figure appeared remarkably abrupt and eye-catching.

This man was of imposing stature, clad in coarse cloth garments and straw sandals, with his hair tied into a simple topknot, wearing no hat. He had thick eyebrows and large eyes, and what particularly drew the gaze was the half-face of bristling whiskers that seemed to grow like a dense array of thorns, making him look as though he were carrying an iron brush. He bore no luggage or bundles on his back, but slung across his back was a gigantic sword case. The long sword within was deeply concealed, yet the exposed hilt alone was half a foot long, dark and heavy enough to impart a tremendous psychological sense of oppression.

A great sword shaped like a broad board!

To dare carry such a massive sword through the heart of the prefecture—not as an official soldier, but as a Daoist priest—was a sight striking enough to turn heads.

Yan Chixia strode with long, steady strides down the street. Had a mindful observer been watching, they would have noticed an astonishing detail: every single step he took seemed to have been measured, with the distance of each stride almost completely identical, surpassing the margin of error discernible to the naked eye.

He walked with great strides, crossing streets and threading through alleys. As he passed beneath the Tuoma Pagoda, his steps paused momentarily. Yan Chixia raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce upward, as if he could clearly see the soaring peak of the pagoda. Yet it was merely a fleeting moment; soon, he withdrew his gaze and continued forward, turning with vigorous steps into Zhezhou's South Street—

At the end of South Street lay the South Gate.

By this time, a crowd of people waiting to leave the city had already gathered near the South Gate.

As the hour of Chen had just arrived, accompanied by a long, drawn-out shout from the guard captain, "Open the city gate!"

Amidst the call, the massive and heavy city gates creaked as they were pulled open from both sides, and a new day began!

...

Just as the hour of Chen struck, at a breakfast stall on the right side beneath the Tuoma Pagoda, Chen Jianchen was holding a bowl of rice noodles, slurping them down noisily.

"Young Master, eat slower!"

Watching the way Chen Jianchen was eating, Yingning smiled, holding back her laughter. She found that every single day spent in Chen Jianchen's company felt fresh.

Finishing his third bowl of rice noodles in no time at all, Chen Jianchen finally let out a satisfied burp, stretched lazily, and felt his spirits soar.

Only then did Yingning take a small, dainty bite of the egg-drop noodles before her, raising her head to ask, "Young Master, why did you suddenly want to go out for a run today? It's quite strange."

Chen Jianchen replied, "What's so strange about it? It's just physical exercise. Once you run up a sweat, your mind feels refreshed. If you keep it up every day, your body will naturally stay in top shape."

Yingning seemed to recall something. "Right, Young Master, since you consumed the Dalao Fruit, your physical foundation should be quite solid already... Um, are you planning to learn martial arts, Young Master?"

As for the path of martial arts, Chen Jianchen was indeed somewhat interested. This world already possessed figures akin to martial arts masters—to look no further, Nie Xiaoqian could easily be counted as one. Although they could not achieve the soaring through the skies and shifting of earth or the myriad wondrous arts of cultivators, feats like vaulting over eaves and scaling walls or wielding saber techniques with divine skill were well within their grasp.

However, Chen Jianchen was already eighteen years old this year, and at this age, starting to learn martial arts might be considered a bit late. Moreover, practicing martial arts required finding a master, and he held little regard for the mediocre skills of ordinary estate-guarding martial arts instructors. And while he had a fox spirit like Yingning by his side, she had no study or research into the path of martial arts.

Therefore, although Chen Jianchen had the heart to learn martial arts to make up for the shortcomings of the *Three Fundamentals True Scripture*, he lacked the opportunity. At this moment, he inexplicably thought of that dragon-like swordsman from Mount Shu whose head and tail were rarely seen together, "Yan Chixia." If he were here, receiving even a single set of sword techniques imparted by him would probably benefit one for a lifetime.

Yet, ever since their parting in Jiangzhou, when Yan Chixia had traveled far to the capital to attend the Dharma-Dissemination Assembly, there had been no news of him whatsoever. With the world so vast, where was one to find him? Not to mention the question of whether, even if found, he would be willing to impart his skills—matters had not reached that stage yet.

Alas...

Chen Jianchen let out a leisurely sigh, raising his head to gaze at the lofty peak of the Tuoma Pagoda, thinking that with the poetry competition scheduled right atop this tower, making all the scholar representatives climb all the way up was truly a bit of a grueling task.

—Earlier that day, he and Yingning had left Kaitai Academy early, run a circle around the city, and then come to eat breakfast beneath the Tuoma Pagoda while waiting for the others to arrive. Yet the hour was still early, and no shadow of the others was to be seen yet.

"Young Master, if you truly wish to learn martial arts, Yingning can go and borrow a few martial arts manuals for you to study."

The "borrowing" she spoke of naturally carried a different meaning; matters concerning scholars ought to be phrased with euphemisms, for speaking too plainly stripped them of their charm. Yingning could hardly be considered a scholar herself, but at the very least, she was a fox who read books.

Chen Jianchen shook his head. "There is no need... Besides, even if I held a manual, I wouldn't be able to copy the gourd according to the pattern." Toward the existence of martial arts manuals and the like, he held a skeptical attitude; if they were truly so easy to learn, martial arts masters would be everywhere. Martial cultivation was called cultivation for a reason; in reality, it ought to share the same underlying principle as Daoism and Buddhism—one had to be guided into the gate by a master, teaching hand in hand, before one could truly learn it.

Furthermore, in a world where cultivators existed, the standing of ordinary martial arts masters inevitably dropped by several notches.

"Boss, bring a large bowl of knife-shaved noodles, extra spicy!"

At that moment, another customer arrived at the stall.

This man was not very tall, dressed in a blue scholar's robe and appearing quite ordinary, except that his eyes flickered occasionally, faintly revealing a sharp, fierce intent. The hands he had exposed were large, thick, and filled with a sense of power; they looked nothing like the hands of an ordinary person, and at a single glance, one could tell they belonged to someone who practiced martial arts.

Chen Jianchen could not help casting an extra glance, then paid the bill and left with Yingning.

After walking a short distance, Yingning suddenly said, "Young Master, that person just now should be a practitioner of martial arts. The vital breath in his body is extremely vigorous, and his skills appear quite profound."

As a fox spirit, her sensory perception was sharp, and she could not possibly be mistaken.

A master?

The moment one speaks of masters, a master appears?

Chen Jianchen could not resist glancing back once more, only to find that the other person happened to turn his head at that very moment, as if sensing the gaze. Their eyes met, and an inexplicable meaning rippled through the air.

Heh...

Chen Jianchen smiled, naturally turning his head back away, and with his hands clasped behind his back, walked toward Tuoma Temple. Yet what he did not know was that this very stretch of road beneath his feet had, half an hour earlier, been trodden by Yan Chixia himself. It was simply that the directions they walked were different—one heading south, and the other north.

Calculating the hour, the others should be arriving soon. Today, some fascinating events were bound to unfold...